I wonder what thoughts are flying through her head now? I wonder if she can even imagine what is beyond kissing? She seems so innocent, I doubt her hand has ever even explored her own body, let alone another’s. Mrs Priestley tells me she has been proposed to over the years but never been seen with anyone. Poor thing, I would have assumed she had not even been kissed before, except that how she kisses me suggests otherwise. It seems that young Miss Walker has had more experience than she lets on. I imagine she prays for forgiveness after every impure thought!

As I think on her now and record her letter in my diary, as I record all I write and receive, I feel as though I have been rather mean in my estimation of her. Perhaps she isn’t half so unintelligent as I believed. She rises to my conversation and although she appears lacking in education, she does seem to have the capacity for it. I could suggest a few books to her and once she has read them, I could question her and see what she makes of them. That would give me a good measure of whether she has the capacity to learn in order for her to be suitable companion to me. I should hate for her to be interested only in gossip rather than history and philosophy.

I wonder too what her experience of relations is? She may well have secrets – I’ve hidden mine well. I wonder what Miss Walker has been up to in her time? She is attractive and must surely have the same urges as I do. As I write about her in my diary, I feel myself getting warm down below and know that tonight I shall take pleasure while thinking of her. I wonder if she would ever even dream of doing the same with thoughts of me?

I decide to make her wait. I write back to say I’d be happy to visit her and her aunt but am busy until next Tuesday. Five days for her to think about me or forget me. I shall meet with her and her aunt, and if she seems interested I shall offer to take her for a short walk.

I think I shall need to progress past kissing quite soon before my interest wanes. I am not as young as I was and do not wish to exhaust too much of my time working on her only for her to reject me at the final stage. I need to be sure quite soon that she is of the same mind as me, that she too has feelings only for the fairer sex, and, ideally, only for me.